Whether you live north, where the frost-free vegetable growing season is under 200 days long, or in Southern California, where it's over 300 days long, sometimes the season seems just too short. When this is the case, you can stretch extra days and weeks out of your growing season. Here are some ideas to help you.
Photo from the National Gardening Association
Plant seeds of long-season crops indoors in pots before the last frost date in your area. Start tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants 8 weeks early, cole crops (broccoli, cabbage, kale, and other related plants) about 4 to 6 weeks early, and vine crops 1 week early. Extend your harvest into fall by planting second crops of short-season vegetables, such as snap beans, peas, greens, radishes, cole crops, and turnips later in the season so they mature after you harvest the first crop.
Some areas around your property warm up faster in the spring, stay cooler or warmer in the summer, or are protected from the wind. Use these protected sites to grow vegetables earlier or later in the season. Grow an extra early crop of cold-hardy spinach or lettuce, for example, on the sunny south side of a building.
In cold climates, use black mulch to warm the soil in spring and retain extra heat in fall. In hot climates, use reflective white plastic to keep the soil cooler. Cover the edges of the plastic with soil to anchor it in place. Organic mulches such as grass clippings also moderate soil temperature, preventing hot and cold extremes.
In spring and fall, freezing temperatures limit plant growth in northern latitudes and at high elevations. Cover early- and late-season plantings with mini-greenhouses made from clear plastic, old window sashes set on hay bales, or fabric row covers. Vent the covers on warm days to prevent excessive heat buildup.
Start and end the gardening season with cold-hardy vegetables that tolerate frost, such as peas, lettuce, cole crops, beets, and chard. Some vegetables also have particular varieties better suited to grow in cold, short-day climates. Other varieties are specially adapted to growing in long, hot days, extending your growing season into the summer. Read seed packets and catalog descriptions to find vegetables that meet your particular needs.
Grow some plants, such as cold-tender herbs and dwarf fruit trees, in containers that you can move indoors and outdoors as weather permits.
Cover hardy root crops with a 6- to 12-inch-thick layer of straw or other organic mulch in fall to prevent the soil from freezing. Harvest as needed throughout the winter.
Article courtesy of the National Gardening Association
